June is the month you get to learn a bit more about the authors. You’re going to find out some interesting facts about them. You see, authors are people, too. They have their quirks, idiosyncrasies, and talents. This week, you’ll learn something unusual about the authors.

I scored in the 7th percentile on English GRE. I was not an English or literature undergrad, but I applied to a big state university’s Graduate Creative Writing program. They accepted me based on my publication record to that point, but asked me to take the English GRE “just because”. I agreed, did not study for it and got creamed because so many of the questions were about all the literature most English undergrads have already read. Nonetheless, to the best of my knowledge, I’m one of their more successful…

Yesterday marked the 1-year anniversary of Jasper‘s release. If you follow my Twitter page, you probably noticed I started a free book promotion on Amazon to celebrate. The book is still free until this Sunday, so pick it up if you haven’t already!

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. But really, people do judge books by their covers. A great cover can sell a book. It’s important to have well done cover art. Authors who are traditionally published usually have it done for them by the publisher. But a self-published author has to commission the artwork from an artist themselves and pay for it. Or maybe some authors do it themselves. So, how did we get it done?

In an ideal world, authors would be able to concentrate in any situation, any place. But it’s not ideal, and there are situations that completely kill our concentration. But everyone is different. Everyone has a different tolerance for noise, cold, heat, light, and so on.

Question 79 – What are the worst things that can break your concentration while writing?

Having written through raising two children, I can consider a lot of annoying sounds white noise, but video games, especially those with loud background noises and my husband playing guitar seem to be the worst offenders for things I have a hard time blocking out. Thank goodness for earplugs.

Just about anything can break my concentration when writing. Noises like people talking in the hall, cars passing in the street, music… I wear headphones the whole time I write, but I don’t listen to anything…

This is a rant about Game of Thrones, but probably not for the reason you expect. Spoilers will follow.

There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding whether Jon Snow lives or dies. That question was finally answered in last Sunday’s episode after over a year of buildup. Congrats, fans, he’s still alive. This was enough to piss people off.

I’m sure there are plenty of fans of the show who didn’t like Jon and wanted to see him offed. I’m sure that scene in last season’s finale was satisfying for them, and the latest episode was a letdown. I get that. This post isn’t really about those fans though.

There are the fans who listened to producers when they insisted Jon was dead and would stay dead. They kept an eye on the set to see if Jon would be there. They actively sought out spoilers for the show and got angry when they found they were deceived. I remember comments from randoms on Facebook, outraged that the producers “lied right to our faces.” Now Kit Harington is apologizing to fans for his part in the deception.

Wait, what?

This is a fandom that simultaneously frowns upon spoilers and demands them from the showrunners. How does this make sense? Why should the cast and crew from a TV show tell you what’s going to happen in the next season before it airs? Why should they apologize for not ruining the suspense they were trying to create?

This is like GRRM’s fans bitching at him to put out books because audience interest constitutes a contract. The showrunners may make a living off of entertainment, but that doesn’t make them subject to your whims and demands.

I haven’t been on Goodreads in a while. I catch updates from some groups I’m in but hadn’t logged in until tonight. And now I’m regretting not catching an issue sooner.

If you look at my author page, you’ll find (apart from my own glacial reading progress) four books under my name. Only one of them was written by me, and that of course was Jasper. I’m not nearly prolific enough to have written four books. I’m still working on my second!

So I can’t seem to fix the mix-up on my end, but I’ve written notes to other librarians in hopes that someone more competent than I can make new author pages for these other Elizabeths.

Writing isn’t easy. Crafting a story is a difficult process. But we’re only human, so mistakes may be made. We’re not perfect. But what if we had superpowers? Not like superheroes, but literary superpowers. What would an author like to have as a superpower?

Question 78 – If you could have a literary superpower, what special ability would you like to have that would help your writing?

The power to instantly read any revision with fresh eyes. I have a tendency to think of my own writing as droll and dull after reading it over and over and over and over. It’s only after I’ve spent months away from a manuscript – usually spent working on a different manuscript in the meantime – that I get to see what I’ve written is actually exciting and engaging and emotional and GOOD.